Dunfermline school fire: Some pupils to return on Monday

Woodmill High School is currently closed

Some pupils from a fire-struck high school in Fife will return to lessons on Monday.

Woodmill High School's head teacher has revealed plans to accommodate the 1,400 children displaced by Sunday's blaze elsewhere.

Sandy McIntosh said S5 and S6 pupils would restart on Monday 2 September.

He also said that plans were being made to accommodate the school's additional needs pupils together in one building from 9 September.

The blaze broke out at the Dunfermline school on Sunday evening. Fife Council said there was no part of the school building untouched by damage.

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with wilful fireraising to danger of life. The Kirkcaldy teenager, who cannot be named, made no plea and was bailed at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

Staff have been exploring options to accommodate pupils and parents have been invited to meetings on Thursday to discuss arrangements.

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Speaking for the first time since the fire, Mr McIntosh said in an update: "We have identified solutions that will allow S5 and S6 pupils to return to their learning from this coming Monday, 2 September. We know they're anxious to pick up their certificate courses.

"We've identified a possible opportunity to accommodate our DAS [Department of Additional Support] pupils in a single facility from Monday 9 September. We need to discuss these proposals with a number of groups before we can talk about more detail publicly, but we'll be speaking to our DAS families directly and hope to meet many of them on Friday."

'A building doesn't make a school'

He said work was continuing to secure accommodation and transport for 1,000 pupils in S1-S4. He said the aim was to keep entire year groups together and get them back into a school on a phased basis over the next week.

He said other schools and community buildings could be used and parents in each year group would be kept informed.

Mr McIntosh thanked the community for their support and in particular, parents, pupils and staff of Woodmill High for their patience during what he described as "a difficult period".

He said: "Wherever our pupils and staff are hosted in the short term, I'm keen to stress that we will still be maintaining our identity as Woodmill High, which will include wearing our uniforms. We're all sad to have lost our school building, but the building itself doesn't make a school - we are Woodmill!"